In a patient suffering from urinary incontinence, for example, stress urinary incontinence, urine leakage (involuntary urination) can occur due to an abnormal pressure exerted during a normal exercise or by laughing, coughing, sneezing or the like. This can be attributable, for example, to loosening of the pelvic floor muscle, which is a muscle for supporting the urethra, caused by childbirth or the like.
For treatment of urinary incontinence, surgical therapy can be effective. For example, a tape-shaped implant called a “sling” can be placed indwelling in a body so as to support the urethra by the sling (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,911,003). In order to put a sling indwelling in the body, an operator incises a vagina with a surgical knife, dissects a biological tissue (living body tissue) between the urethra and the vagina, and provides communication between the exfoliated biological tissue site and an exterior through an obturator foramen by using a puncture needle or the like. Then, in such a state, the sling is placed indwelling in the body.
If a vaginal wall is once incised, however, there can be a fear that the sling might be exposed to an inside of the vagina via a wound caused by the incision. Also, there can be a fear that complications might occur which can be caused by an infection via the wound or the like. In addition, since the vaginal wall is incised, an invasiveness of the procedure can be rather great and a burden on a patient can be relatively heavy. In addition, there can be a fear that the urethra or the like might be damaged by a surgical knife in the course of the procedure by the operator, and also, there can be a fear that the operator himself might damage his fingertip by the surgical knife.